Republican mayors break with Trump over ‘chaotic’ ICE operations

A cohort of Republican mayors has condemned the Trump administration’s aggressive ICE operations in Minnesota, signaling a growing rift within the party over the execution of federal immigration enforcement.

Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt told POLITICO that the current climate is unsettling the nation. “This is roiling the country,” Holt said. “We all feel the anxiety of our citizens and the fear that our city could be the next target, and that chaos will inevitably spread across the country.”

In California, Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer stated in an interview that “too much damage” had been done and that “the trust of the communities has been lost” due to the recent crackdowns. Meanwhile, Mayor Elizabeth Kautz of Burnsville, Minnesota, warned that ICE’s current tactics imply that “our cities are no longer safe.”

The remarks from these three moderate-leaning Republican mayors, all of whom have previously distanced themselves from Trump, were made during the annual meeting of the bipartisan US Conference of Mayors, held just blocks from the White House. Holt currently serves as the president of the conference.

The calls for de-escalation follow the killing of two Minnesota residents by federal agents. While these local leaders and Republicans generally support the president’s overarching policy goals, the outcry highlights deepening internal friction regarding the administration’s scorched-earth immigration agenda.

Dyer, who spent 40 years in law enforcement including 18 years as a city police chief, argued on Wednesday that federal agents require significantly more training in de-escalation tactics—a practice he described as indispensable for local police departments. He further asserted that federal agencies should only operate in communities where there is cooperation from local leadership.

“I don’t believe agencies should be deployed into cities against the will of the local government and without the cooperation of local law enforcement,” Dyer said. “That is a recipe for disaster, and I think that is a bit of what we are seeing today.”

Dyer also challenged other Republicans to speak out against the recent tactics employed by federal immigration agents. “The Republican Party at large cannot simply rubber-stamp everything the party or this administration does. Today, too many people are looking the other way when they should be speaking out,” he added.

Concerns over the administration’s approach are not limited to mayors of major metropolitan hubs. Kautz’s town of Burnsville, with a population of 64,000, sits in the southern suburbs of Minneapolis. Kautz revealed that she has begun carrying her passport in public and called for ICE to utilize judicial warrants. She argued that while violent criminals must be removed from the streets, it must be done through “proper channels, the rule of law, due process, and the Constitution.” Kautz emphasized that her experience in Minnesota suggests this standard is not being met.

A recent POLITICO poll found that more than one-third of Trump voters support the objectives of the president’s immigration policy but disapprove of how it is being implemented.

Holt, who governs one of the most conservative large cities in the US but endorsed Kamala Harris over Trump in 2024, concluded that the administration’s domestic security policy is failing. “The president may feel that, in general, his policies at the border are largely supported by a majority of Americans,” Holt said. “But what they are doing inside the border doesn’t seem to be working.”